New Castle County police are investigating the theft of a Confederate flag from a Glasgow home.

Homeowner Barry Binkley Jr. told The News Journal of Wilmington on Wednesday that the banner had been removed from a flagpole outside of his home. A boat on the property was spray-painted with words denouncing him as "racist."

Binkley says he isn't racist and flew the rebel flag for more than 15 years, calling it a symbol that ties him to friends and family in the South.

Police spokeswoman Tracey Duffy says the theft is not considered a hate crime because no racial slurs were used.

The case comes amid a turbulent national debate about the use of Confederate imagery in the wake of last month's tragic murders at a historic black church in Charleston, South Carolina.